Paintball 2000 | Paintball-News Das Paintball Magazin

Im zweiten Pro Corner von FON schreibt Todd Martinez über das Verhalten von Paintballfans in aller Welt gegenüber seinem Team, dem „Team USA“:“Team USA“ – by Todd MartinezI was born to compete. I was three years old when my dad put a soccer ball in front of me and jumpstarted my sports career. I guess this is why I have always loved the fight, the battle, and the struggle on the field of competition. Soccer was my love. It was something that I was really good at that my dad also enjoyed and enjoyed seeing me succeed at. He even took me to a few World Cup games including Sweden versus Cameroon at the Rose Bowl, and USA versus Mexico at Jack Murphy Stadium. Soccer is a game just like paintball. Those who play do it for the love of the game, the spirit of the competition, and the sweet taste of victory. The thing about World Cup soccer that is truly amazing to see and be a part of is the devotion of the people to stand up for their team, their country, and their pride.After the last PSP in Pennsylvania, some of the boys and I went down to play a fun tournament in Mexico. What usually happens at these tournaments is this: we show up and beat the crap out of every Mexican team down there and the MAYBE one other random US team that decides to go down there. I give a lot of credit to the Mexican teams because, as the Europeans have as well, really busted their ass over the last three to four years to get a lot better. So we are playing on Saturday and we have eleven or twelve games to play. This was a nice event and many people came out to watch. Now let me tell you how three hundred Mexican people feel about watching ten Mexican teams get beat down game after game. ANGER! HATE! The eleventh team rolls around and what do you know!? They kick the shit out of us! The place turns as wild as a Dynasty house party with Markus Nielsen on a three keg minimum! Fireworks are going off, piñatas are being strung up, shots of tequila were on the house, and Mexican flags were being raised everywhere. The next game we stalemate, and with a little controversy on the field, the cheers turn to jeers and slander. I sat for ten minutes before a game while a guy stood on a hill and screamed “you suck, your team sucks, your mom sucks, fu#k you, fu#k your mom,” and so on and so forth. If this didn’t make us not want to come back the next day, it sure didn’t help when Mike gets punched in the back of the head three times while talking to somebody else. To us this was a fun weekend with the boys to make a little cash. To them, it was a battle of country and pride. The madness was not cool to us, but looking back it is amazing how personal it was to them. Some of them want to fight over losing a paintball game! Now I know why pitchers toss chairs into the stands.At the Sweden versus Cameroon World Cup game, I stood with a bunch of people who didn’t look like me at all jumping around bobbing our heads screaming CA-MER-OON while others beat furiously on drums. Across the way I heard the blue and yellow singing songs and screaming chants back louder. I just returned from the Millennium Series event in Malaga Beach, Spain where we played Joy Division from Sweden in the finals. Now I could be wrong but it sure seemed like during the finals, everybody there turned suddenly Swedish. I knew we weren’t going to get any crowd support when the MC asked where all the Dynasty fans were and I heard a pin fall out of somebody’s pocket. The Swedes were gathered, singing, and chanting the Joy Division national anthem I guess. Whatever it was, I just hoped we didn’t go down bodies early, because the place would have erupted. Lucky for us, we put them in their place like the Boston Red Sox (Max Lundquist will play the role of Pedro Martinez, and Dynasty will have the lead as Daddy) and the crowd couldn’t help them. Once again I was amazed how black and white everything was! There was not a single European person there cheering for the Americans. Hell! I even saw the Bad Company guys hating on us. Well, that was until Dave Stewart convinced them to stop. He kind of has a way with words.What has been driving me up the wall since I left Pittsburgh is how much I hate losing that game to the Russians. Now I won’t even get into how Jerry Braun, a promoter for the PSP, says to our team how great it is going to be when the Russians beat us. That is as confident as the statement he made to me “The Russians will beat you.” Then he turned around and walked away because Pete Rose was on the other line. Now aside from this and Infamous’ five minute penalty, it was so disappointing to be playing as hard as I can and when I look to the crowd for support, I hear louder cheers for the cold foreigners than for the, yes I will say it damnit, best team, best hope for our country in this international battle that everybody had been waiting for. Where is the love?! Look at us! Young, personable, apple pie American damn kids! We play with heart! We play with emotion! We are passionate! It is these things that the fans, the countrymen, are supposed to share through the competition. How do you connect with the Russians? They look mean and evil and I don’t think half of them talk. If it weren’t for the crew from Pev’s (Pev, Hot Rod, Rab, DC Devastation) and a few SoCal’ers, I wouldn’t have known anyone cheering us on. The crowd got even louder when they heard the U.S. Basketball team lost. I may be the only person to look at it this way but it I guess a lot of things don’t surprise me anymore. I say thanks for the motivation. I just want to beat those guys even more now. Going into World Cup here in a few weeks, my boys and I will be coming to win. It will be a war either way.